1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fecal specimen containers, and more particularly, to those containers that are disposable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,979 issued to Louis W. Mead in 1973. Mead's patent discloses an apparatus for measuring the amount of a component in a biological fluid. It includes two short vials 6 and 6' that are removably mounted to a long vial 8. However, it has two interface areas instead of just one, as in the present invention is claimed. Therefore, it has twice the possibility of leakage. More important, long vial 8 is not a tube, as in the present invention. Also, vial 8 is exposed which makes it susceptible to being damaged by handling it. In the present invention we have jacket members enclosing the tube means and cork members that are not suggested in this patent.
Another reference is the U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,015 issued to Frederick J. Rield in 1977 for "Glass Sampling Tube". Rield disclosed the use of rubber bands 46 to keep male portions 22 against the tapered ends of tube portion 12. However, ears 42 extend substantially radially outwardly from portions 22, which is not the case here. In the present invention, a central notch ensures that the rubber band force will be longitudinally exerted.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.